Walking down the street, ruffling his hair Flynn sighed.
"Damn it, Oriel." Stopping at the alley that she disappeared down before school had begun, Flynn rolled his eyes. Walking into the alley, he looked at the walls, the trash cans. Touching his necklace again, he shook his head. He couldn't his concern for Oriel out of his head. "Who could you be talking to that you'd skip school for." Stopping in the shade of the alley, he stood still as he listened to the noises of the distant cars.
After a moment of silence, Flynn heard the sound of clapping behind him. Slowly he turned around to see who was clapping.
Standing at the mouth of the alley, the same man who Oriel had stopped to see was stood smiling at Flynn. "Oh. No one important." The man said, answering Flynn's question. The smile he wore unnerved the schoolboy.
Clenching his fists, Flynn took a step back. "Where's Oriel?" He demanded.
Ignoring the boy's question, the man stopped clapping. Holding his hands together he eerily smiled. "Can I just take a moment to thank you, now instead of having to wait until you got out of school. We can get ahead with the plans."
Confused, Flynn furrowed his brow. "Listen, I just want to know where Oriel is. If you aren't going to answer me that then just leave me alone".
Turning away Flynn continued walking down the alley.
As Flynn began walking away from him, the man grits his teeth. "Ugh and here I tried to be nice about it."
Disregarding the man's comments, he continued walking but on hearing a strange noise and cyan glow behind him, Flynn turned around curious.
Flynn's eyes widened seeing that the man had closed the distance between them without him even realising.
Earlier the man's hands were empty, now he held a large black and silver ornate cleaver the size of Flynn's arm in one hand. Bringing it down over his head, Flynn tried to run away. As he turned back around. Flynn's tripped over his own foot causing him to fall.
Avoiding the sharp edge of the cleaver, Flynn hit the floor. Winding himself slightly.
Crawling back on the floor, the man grunted in annoyance at having missed his target.
"Oh, come on. Couldn't you just make this easy on me." He complained. Bringing the cleaver over his head again, the man snarled. "Just stay still and die already."
Cutting down with the cleaver, Flynn rolled out of the way, the cleaver's edge buried itself into the alley's concrete floor.
Shocked by the scenario he found himself in. Flynn didn't know what to say. Picking himself up, Flynn used the time it took the man to retrieve the cleaver in order to exit the alley.
Running away. Running as fast as he could down the empty streets, believing himself to have put enough distance between them. He hid down another alley.
Seeking refuge behind a large garbage bin, Flynn sunk to his knees clutching his head. Trying his best to calm his mind, to calm his breath, he couldn't.
Someone had just tried to kill him, the reality dawned upon him as he thought to himself.
'What do I do now, why was he after me, what did he do to Oriel?'
Hearing footsteps, Flynn froze in place. As the steps moved closer. Flynn held his breath.
"Flynn!?" Hearing Oriel's voice, Flynn's nerves settled slightly.
"Oriel!" He called his voice cracking slightly. Flynn's sudden appearance from behind the garbage can causing Oriel to jump. "Where have you been?" He asked, stepping out from behind the bin."
"I- Uhh." Scratching the back of her head, Oriel took a moment to respond. "Yeah I- I had something to attend to, sorry."
"During school?" Just as Oriel was about to respond, Flynn began to wring wrung his hands out of anxiety. "No that doesn't matter, you won't believe what the hell just happened. The guy, that man you were talking to earlier, he-he had this cleaver of some sort and just tried to kill me, he just pulled it out of nowhere."
Oriel fell silent. "What...?"
"I'm not joking Oriel. He was swinging it around- He broke concrete with it." Seeing that Oriel had stopped paying attention, he clapped his hands to try and get her attention. "Oriel please this is no time to daydream."
In response, Oriel waved her hands slightly. "Flynn please." Turning around Oriel lightly scratched her jaw "I thought I bought us more time than this… I thought-"
"What. That we'd believe your little white lie!" The man's voice from before boomed from the mouth of the alleyway causing Flynn to jump from the sudden sound and causing Oriel to grit her teeth.
"Dammit!" She swore. "How'd you find us Wrath!" She shouted pointing a finger at him.
Resting his cleaver on his should, Wrath shrugged. "The kid didn't run that far you know, and besides. I may not be able to track the kid, but this close proximity. I'd be able to see you as bright as day."
"Flynn." Glancing back to Flynn, Oriel sharply exhaled. Clenching her left hand, a cyan light began to glow between the cracks of her fingers. "Run." Swinging her clenched hand outwards, within the blink of an eye. The compressed cyan light expanded forming a rapier. Solidifying, the light faded revealing an almost angelic gilded rapier. Pointing it in Wrath's direction, Oriel stared him down.
Forming a sinister smile, Wrath moved his cleaver off of his shoulder and out to the side as if to entice Oriel to attack him.
Staggering backwards, Flynn softly reached for Oriel. "But Oriel--"
"Flynn, I said go!" She shouted putting her free hand on Flynn's shoulder, Oriel pushed him. Without looking back, she gestured for him to leave the alley out the other entrance.
As Oriel dropped her guard, Wrath took his chance. Grabbing his cleaver in both hands, he leapt forward. Clearing the distance between them, he began to swing his mighty blade down.
"Not so fast devil." Oriel remarked turning back the descending Wrath.
As Wrath's trajectory began to decline. A chain of pure light shot out from above him wrapping down his weapon and around his wrists, the chain suspended him in mid-air. Looking up, Wrath snarled seeing where the chain had come from, a golden glyph around the size of a dinner plate had appeared a foot above him.
"When did you get the time to set glyphs. You didn't know he was coming here, eh, whatever. You know this won't be enough to hold me for long." Wrath's biceps tensed as he began to pull against the chains.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Oriel lightly shrugged. "You know your right I didn't expect that to work. You should do more research next time Wrath, instead of going it alone. I can place glyphs anywhere near me and the kicker is." Throwing her arms wide she winked. "I don't need to be near them to cast them."
Around the suspended Wrath, a dozen glowing glyphs flashed into being.
"No! Don't you dare!" He roared.
From out of the glyphs, twelve chains shot out, the chains began to snake around the demon's body and limbs, restraining his movement even more.
Shaking her head. Oriel looked over to Flynn who was still stood behind here. "Didn't I tell you- You know what never mind. We really need to run now." Starting to move away, grabbing Flynn's arm she began to pull him. "Come on already."
Looking at the furious Wrath, who was wriggling around trying to break free from the chains that held, Flynn blinked. "But can't he get free of those, can't you like finish him off? Or something."
Shocked that at what Flynn has just proposed, Oriel shook her head. "No Flynn, he has two special properties. The angrier he gets, the stronger he gets and the more hurt he gets the stronger he gets. Too many people would get hurt before he falls. Now mush."
Relinquishing, Flynn followed Oriel's commands.
Seeing the duo start to leave, Wrath shouted after them.
"You can't hide Nephalem!"
Hearing this, Flynn felt a shiver going down his spine.
Looking to his right side at Oriel, Flynn's gaze would stop on the weapon she was holding in her left hand. "Oriel, where are we going?"
"Home. Your home. We need to pick up Brynn and then skip town." She nonchalantly replied.
Hearing this Flynn stopped. "What why?"
Shaking her head again, Oriel attempted to take Flynn's hand to pull him along. "I promise I'll explain everything that's happening later. As much as I can. Just, not right now. We need to get somewhere safe."
Taking a moment to process this, Flynn deeply exhaled. Nodding at Oriel he held her hand. "Ok, I trust you."
With a quick nod of recognition and a smile. Flynn and Oriel broke into a sprint wanting to get back to the Whitfield abode sooner.
--
Reaching the edge of town, Flynn stopped. As he started to pant from the exhaustion. Flynn leant against the same lamppost he had used to support him earlier this morning. Turning to look to Oriel, she was stood next to him looking at Flynn's house surrounded by farmland.
"I swear-- With how you don't even break a sweat, even after running that hard-- It's almost like you're not human." Flynn said in between pants.
Meekly smiling Oriel gave a meek smile which turned into a small stifled laugh. "Yeah... something like that." Turning back to the old house on the hill, Oriel would wonder. "Hey Flynn, whilst you catch your breath can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah?"
Running her finger along the edge of the rapier she held, Oriel squinted at Flynn's home. "Why do you and Brynn live so far away from the city. Surely there are better apartments. So, Brynn doesn't have to go so far for work, or you for school."
Hearing her question, Flynn closed his eyes as he reminisced for a moment. "It belonged to my parents. My foster parents that is."
Looking slightly surprised, Oriel turned back to him. "Is that so."
"Yeah. After they died in the… in the car crash. They left it to Brynn."
Wanting to say something, Oriel remained quiet as Flynn continued.
Shaking his head, Flynn let go of the lamppost and took a few steps forwards. "We agreed with our lawyer that it would be best to sell the land off to other farmers since well, at that age we couldn't have ever dreamt of tending to all that land... but we never could have sold the house." Turning to look at Oriel, Flynn wore a loose smile that barely masked the concern he held for the situation he found himself in. "We just didn't have the heart to let go of them."
Seeing this, Oriel frowned slightly. "I… I'm sorry to hear that Flynn. I should have left my question for another time, this isn't the best time to ask."
"No, it's. It's fine." Flynn shook his head rebuking her comment. "My parents died years ago. Although it is nice to talk about them sometimes… It's almost like it keeps their memory alive." Looking back to the house on the house on the hill, he sighed. "That guy. Do you two know each other?" He asked the tone of his voice a mixture of concern and worry.
After hearing this, Oriel winced as if Flynn's question had just pinched her. Shaking her head, she answered his question. "I don't know him in person, I've only heard of his reputation. The Sin of Wrath, a strong fighter. We were lucky he didn't know about my glyphs. We're even luckier that he's abiding by the laws of the High Truce. Well most of them, I always heard he was kind of a loose cannon."
Turning to Flynn, Oriel saw his look of absolute confusion as she rattled off what sounded like gibberish.
Feeling hot under both his blazer and hoodie, Flynn took it off. Turning to Oriel, he hesitated for a moment before asking. "Oriel, who are you and I mean, who are you really. You never invited me around to your house, you've been by my side basically every moment since we met." Squinting, Flynn held his chest with one hand as the same pain he felt when he stood up to his bully burnt deep within his chest, although this time the pain felt more intense. Although it didn't seem to faze Flynn as much as it had less than an hour earlier.
"Who are you Oriel?"
"I-" Abruptly turning away, Oriel exhaled. "Flynn, I promise you I will tell you everything when we get somewhere safe but not now. I need time to explain this to you. Not now, Wrath could break out of those chains any moment. Damn it." She swore realising how much time they had wasted standing around talking. Starting to jog ahead, she gestured for Flynn to get going. "I hope your finished with your break. Let's go."
With a slightly disgruntled nod, Flynn and Oriel continued their jog back to the house.
--
Making their way up the front yard, Flynn could almost feel relief that they had made it home without anything happening. After being attacked by Wrath, he thought he wouldn't get another moment to relax.
Dropping his blazer at the front door, Flynn reached into his hoodie pocket. Taking his hand out he sighed. "Damn, I forgot my keys. First my phone then my keys... This really is turning out to be a bad day."
Oriel would stay quiet as she looked around the empty yard.
Rapping his knuckles on the locked door, Flynn began to shout. "Hey, Brynn! You still home! Helloooo!"
As Flynn was doing this, Oriel made her way towards the window overlooking the fields. "Did you notice Flynn?" She asked.
Turning away from the door, he looked around. "Notice what."
"The living room curtains have been drawn. They weren't closed a few minutes ago were they."
Biting his nail, Flynn thought for a second. "I don't know, maybe she went to bed earl-"
Flynn's words were cut off as Brynn's voice suddenly cut through the silence.
"Flynnnnnn help!" Brynn's panicked voice reached him from the second floor.
Flynn's eyes widened as he heard his sister's cry for help. "Brynn!" Turning back to the door, Flynn would be too slow to react to the bright orange light on the other side.
In a flash of light, Oriel pushed him out of the way. Flynn's eyes caught on Oriel as he fell backwards.
She had taken off her blazer and, in its place, two snow white-feathered wings were stretched outwards. Above her head, a halo of golden light dimly glowed in the daylight.
As Oriel had only just reached Flynn in time, there was no time for her to save herself. The door exploded outwards smashing into Oriel.
Watching Oriel be thrown backwards by the explosion. Flynn began to pick himself up. Watching Oriel also pick herself up, Flynn was amazed that she was still able to stand after taking that hit.
Following Oriel's gaze back to the smoky remains of the front door. Flynn froze seeing a figure emerge from the black smoke.
"Well, well, well." A woman's voice pierced the deafening silence that had followed the explosion, her tone sounded almost seductive yet surprised. "I think I see why Wrath hasn't gotten back yet. Who would've guessed we would have run into an Angel in this Realm of all places."